Home Park is an all-seaterfootballstadium in the Central Park area of Plymouth, England, and is the home of Football League Two club Plymouth Argyle. The ground, given the nickname the Theatre of Greens by the club's supporters, has been Argyle's permanent residence since 1901.[3] After undergoing considerable development in the 1920s and 1930s the ground suffered heavy damage during the Second World War. It was re-opened in time for the resumption of the Football League in 1945 and underwent further improvements in the 1950s, including the installation of floodlights and a new double-decker Grandstand. The ground remained relatively unchanged until 2001 when construction of three new all-seater stands commenced.[4] The work was completed in February 2002, and after further work the stadium became all-seated in the summer of 2007.[5]

Home Park was originally used by the now defunct Devonport Albion rugby team from 1893 to 1898. Following a dispute with the ground's owners over rent, Albion left and the ground was not used for three years. In 1901 the Argyle Athletic Club obtained a lease on the ground, then an oval-shaped bowl and cinder track surrounded by allotments and farmland.[11] The new owners staged their first event, an athletics meeting, on Whit Monday in 1901, however, leaseholder Clarence Spooner was keen for it to stage football. Following a series of successful trial matches involving Argyle Football Club, which attracted healthy crowds, Spooner made the decision to focus on establishing the first professional football club in Devon.[3] The club, formed in 1886, changed its name to Plymouth Argyle in 1903 and became professional that same year. Home Park played host to its first competitive match, against Northampton Town, on 5 September 1903 in front of a crowd of 4,438. At the time the ground had one wooden grandstand which could accommodate 2,000 people, while the other three sides of the ground were surrounded by slag heapbanking with a waist-high fence. When Argyle joined the Football League in 1920 several improvements were required to meet safety requirements.[3]

The wooden Grandstand was demolished and replaced by a much larger and more modern structure at a cost of £12,000, while concrete terracing with crush barriers were added around the other three sides of the ground. A pitched-roof was erected along the main entrance at the Devonport End of the ground to provide cover for supporters using that terrace. The new Grandstand incorporated players changing rooms and club offices. Many of these facilities were built with funds provided by the official supporters club.[3] By the 1930s the ground was regularly hosting crowds in excess of 20,000 and on 10 October 1936 the record attendance was set. A crowd of 43,596 were in attendance to watch the club play out a 2–2 draw with Aston Villa in the Football League Second Division. The ground continued to host Second Division football until the outbreak of war in 1939.[12]

The city of Plymouth was hit hard during the Second World War due to its strength as a military base, with HMNB Devonport being the largest naval base in Western Europe.[13] So, with the ground being in such close proximity to the city centre and Plymouth Sound, it was unlikely that it would escape unharmed. The Football League was abandoned three games into the 1939–40 season, but Home Park continued to host matches until the summer of 1940 in the hastily organised South West Regional League.[14] A series of bombing raids on the city took place in April 1941, known as the Plymouth Blitz, by the Luftwaffe. As expected Home Park did not escape. The Grandstand was all but destroyed after sustaining multiple hits and the pitch was littered with impact craters, which left the club facing a major rebuilding operation after hostilities had abated in 1945.

In order to be ready for the resumption of a regionalised Football League in 1945 several drastic measures were required. Disused army huts were used as changing rooms, buses and trams were used as offices, and railway sleepers were used for terracing.[3] The Football League was still split into North and South divisions, having been created four years earlier in order for the League to continue whilst limiting the amount of movement that was required by competing teams during the war. The 1945–46 season was to be its only full campaign. Records from this time tend not to be included in official records. Plymouth Argyle's first official match back at the ground for six years was played on 31 August 1946. 25,659 spectators were in attendance to watch a 3–1 victory against West Ham United in the Second Division.[15]

A new double-decker Grandstand was built in 1952, one of the last to be based on the template made popular during the 1920s and 30s by prolific football stadium architect Archibald Leitch, with floodlights installed in October of the following year.[11] Running the length of the pitch, it had standing room in the first tier, known as the Mayflower Terrace, and wooden seating in the second tier.[11] When a roof was erected on the Lyndhurst side of the ground in 1964, three quarters of the ground were under cover, with all but the second tier of the Grandstand being standing room. In the 1969–70 season seats were added at the back of the Mayflower Terrace, which took the seating capacity to 4,100 and the overall capacity to 40,000.[11] In the late 1970s the pitched roof at the Devonport End of the ground had to be removed for safety reasons.[3] However, it was replaced in 1984 by a non-pitched structure to leave just the Barn Park End uncovered once more.[16]

The ground remained relatively unchanged throughout the 1990s, aside from the Lyndhurst Stand being made all-seater. However, its future seemed unclear when the club outlined plans to move to a new site in Central Park in 1996. The Plymouth Tradium, designed by Alfred McAlpine, would seat 25,000, and also incorporate community sports and leisure facilities.[17] In the end nothing came of it and the club would instead focus on redeveloping Home Park, with many parts of the old ground showing their age by the arrival of the twenty-first century.

A new plan, based on wholesale redevelopment of the existing ground, was announced in 2000 which at the time would cost an estimated £9m. The stadium would be built in two phases, with the first phase seeing the complete redevelopment of the Devonport End, Lyndhurst Stand, and Barn Park End. The second phase involved the Mayflower Grandstand which would be replaced by a new three-tiered structure to complete an 18,500 capacity all-seater bowl.[18] The green light came in June 2001 when the club and Plymouth City Council agreed a new long-term lease for the ground. The building firm Barr Construction moved onto the site two months later.

During the first six months of the 2001–2002 season supporters watched the club's matches from one touchline before the first phase was completed in February 2002.[19] One of the biggest attendances since the redevelopment was set on 20 April 2002, as 18,517 spectators watched Plymouth Argyle recorded a 2–0 win against Cheltenham Town in the Third Division.[20] A feat which was bettered in 2004, and then in 2007. Home Park attracted its highest average league attendance for over forty years during the 2004–05 season in the Championship, formerly known as the First Division.[21] Despite this, a start date for the second phase of redevelopment would not materialise. The former chairman of Plymouth Argyle, Paul Stapleton, declared that not completing the project was the biggest disappointment of his tenure.[22]

Three major summer initiatives were announced by the club just over a week later, which were carried out over the next month.[26] The Mayflower Terrace was replaced by temporary, unreserved seating with a capacity of 3,500. A new state-of-the-art public address system was installed, and the last of ground's inconic floodlight towers were dismantled after 54 years of service, with a new system put in its place.[27] The capacity of the ground was therefore reduced by roughly two thousand to 19,500 following these changes.

On 4 March 2011, the club entered administration.[28] As part of a rescue package, which saw South West hotelier James Brent take over the club,[29] Plymouth City Council agreed to buy back the freehold for a reported £1.6m and lease the ground back to the club for an annual rent of £135,000.[30]

The Mayflower Grandstand is the club's main stand, which can hold roughly 7,000 spectators. It is the oldest part of the ground, having been built in 1952. It houses the club's main offices, the boardroom, team changing rooms, press rooms and also accommodates executive boxes, which can host functions and are available to supporters during matchdays.[31] The dugouts; which are made of wood and supplied by the club's sponsors; sit in front of the Mayflower, with the player tunnel slightly off center going underneath the Mayflower. To the rear of the stand is the Club Shop, selling official merchandise, and the Pyramid Suite, a top class hospitality area which can cater for up to 170 people.[32] There are two structures overlooking the pitch on each side of the stand. To the east is a building which contains a hospitality area (the Chisholm Lounge),[33] and a press area, and to the west is a disabled enclosure. There have been plans to replace this stand for a number of years.[34] In 2013, planning permission was finally given to revamp and rebuild the Mayflower Grandstand after becoming less popular with supporters and the club's chairman James Brent, although no date has ever been set for the construction to begin.

The other three stands are very similar in design and linked together, having been built in 2001. The Devonport End is the traditional end where the more vocal of the club's supporters gather. It can hold approximately 3,500 spectators.[35] The Lyndhurst Stand is the largest of the three, holding approximately 6,000 spectators, including the corners. The corner towards the East side of the ground is now the dedicated family area. The Barn Park End is where the away supporters are housed. Similar to the Devonport End, it also holds approximately 3,500 spectators. The standard allocation given to visiting clubs is 1,300 but this can be increased if demand requires it.[36] All three boast good views and standard facilities for a football stadium, including concourses, merchandise stands and food and drink outlets. The pitch at the ground measures approximately 100 metres (109.3 yards) long by 66 metres (72.1 yards) wide, with a few metres of run-off space on each side. The ground also has two pitch covers, rain and frost, to protect the pitch during inclement weather during the winter months.

In August 2009 the club announced plans for wholesale development of the stadium and regeneration throughout the area.[37] The club declared that the city of Plymouth would be submitting an application to the Football Association (the FA) to be a host venue for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid.[38] The eye-catching plans were released to the public on 14 December 2009, two days before the FA would announce which candidates they had selected for the bid.[39] The plans, designed by Populous, include developing the stadium into a 46,000 capacity all-seater area, with a 5,000-seat indoor facility and hotel built into the complex, at a cost of at least £50m.[40] The build would be done in three stages. The First Phase, a new Mayflower Stand, will become a reality regardless of the bid, increasing the capacity to 27,000. The Second Phase, an additional 8,000 seats, and the Third Phase, an additional 11,000 seats, would be completed by the 2014–15 season should Plymouth's application and England's bid be successful, giving the stadium a capacity of 46,000 all-seated by this stage.[41][42]

"If one were to classify Britain's 'sleeping giants' in order, Cardiff might be top for self-destruction, but Plymouth, surely, has the ground location which most clubs would die for."

However, on 2 December 2010 England lost its World Cup bid to Russia.[52] Following the failure of the World Cup bid, the consortium that had taken controlling interest in the club in 2009[53] quickly lost interest now property speculation was out of the question and a few months later the club entered administration.[54]

Plymouth Argyle were limited in what they could do with the stadium throughout the 1900s because of a long-standing lease agreement with the City Council. That changed in 2006 when the club purchased the freehold of the ground for £2.7m.[60] Soon after, the club announced it would begin hosting live music in the summer months, starting in 2007, and the first act to perform there was Elton John.[61] Other major acts have followed, including George Michael, Meat Loaf, Westlife, and Rod Stewart.[62] The stadium also hosts an annual free-admittance carol service in December to celebrate Christmas, in association with the Plymouth branch of Christian organisation Faith and Football.[63]

The highest attendance recorded at Home Park is 43,596 for a Football League Second Division match between Plymouth Argyle and Aston Villa on 10 October 1936.[64] This was before the ground was converted to an all-seater stadium, allowing many more people to fit into the stadium. Home Park's record attendance as an all-seater stadium currently stands at 17,511, set at a Football League Championship match between Plymouth Argyle and Watford on 22 March 2008.[65] Home Park's record attendance for a non-competitive match is 37,639, for a mid-season friendly between Plymouth Argyle and Santos on 14 March 1973.[66] The lowest recorded attendance for a competitive match at Home Park was 944, set on 10 December 1996, for a Football League Trophy first round tie between Plymouth Argyle and Bournemouth.[64] The highest average attendance at Home Park over a League season is 23,290, set in the 1946–47 season.[67] The lowest average attendance at Home Park came in the 1982–83 season, when an average of 4,537 spectators watched each match.[64]

Adjacent to the Devonport End of the stadium is a large car park which is free during matchdays on a first come, first served basis. There are numerous Park & Ride services provided by Plymouth Citybus dotted around the area.[68] The club also runs a special service on the day of a match, with the co-operation of Citybus, which provides free transport throughout the city to the stadium for any supporter that has a valid matchday ticket.[69][70] The stadium is on Outland Road, which links to the A38 dual-carriageway and direct access to Cornwall and the north of England.[71] On foot, the stadium is approximately 1.6 miles (2.5 km) from Plymouth railway station and 1.8 miles (2.8 km) from the city centre.[72]